Deadly prophecy returns to the Concordia
A BUDDING singer will captivate an audience with her voice when she makes her Hinckley debut in a classic opera.
It’s been nearly 30 years since Giuseppe Verdi’s opera A Masked Ball was last performed at the Concordia Theatre and it will be Wendy Silvester who takes the lead role as Ulrica.
She will be joined by more than 40 members of the muchacclaimed Stanley Opera Chorus when she graces the stage at the start of April.
A relative newcomer to the Concordia, Wendy is a young freelance opera singer and – though she lives in Burbage – she is currently studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
Wendy has already sung roles for several other companies, most recently on tour in Handel’s Semele for Mid-Wales Opera.
But Julia Meynell said Wendy’s “rich contralto voice is perfectly suited” to the role Ulrica the sorceress,
Visited by the King (played by Alexander Anderson-Hall), Ulrica casts an ominous prediction that he will be murdered by the next person who shakes his hand.
They are joined on stage by Chris Marlow as Renato, the King’s best friend, and Debbie Dubberley as Renato’s wife Amelia who is torn between her loyalty to her husband and her love for the King.
With great tunes and a haunting plot, this promises be a memorable show from a company with a reputation for its staging of operas by Verdi.
With the Stanley Opera Chorus and a full supporting cast, A Masked Ball may be one of Verdi’s lesser-known operas but it packs an enormous emotional and musical punch.
Performances start at the end of the month with the first night on Friday March 31 and three more performances on Tuesday April 4, Thursday 6 and Saturday 8.
To tickets call the box office on Hinckley 615005, in person at the Concordia box office during morning opening times or via concordiatheatre.co.uk/a-masked-ball.